Amber Oud Aqua Dubai

Just sexually incredible. This is the raw definition of a safe blind buy, regardless of if you give a fuck about Imagination or not. Everything in this fragrance is done to near perfection. I was actually a fan of the Al Haramain Amber Oud line before it really blew up with some of their bangers (Gold, Carbon, Dubai Night, etc.) online. Now, let’s get the comparison out of the way: this is 90% similar to Imagination with its own twist that genuinely makes me enjoy it even more than the original. Also, let’s get another thing out of the way: why are you wet sock-wearing giraffes concerned with how you could pick up a 2-3% difference between an OG and inspiration? Do you truly believe that the grandmas you’re trying to impress in the Meijer deli line or your girlfriend’s mom is going to know the difference? No, bro. They’re going to love it regardless. And to 99.99% of people around you, they’re going to believe this is what Imagination smells like. Because it’s damn close, and its projection/performance is beyond an extrait. So, with my peace said, let’s break it down a bit more. I think the main twist Aqua Dubai provides is in its opening and first hour or so, with a slightly bigger focus on its mandarin orange note. And it does it BEAUTIFULLY. The orange is so damn realistic that it genuinely is on par with the realism found in Afternoon Swim. It truly smells like a freshly squeezed, tart mandarin orange, melon, and pineapple on a bed of green notes, tea leaves, and shavings of cinnamon, all on by poolside of the most luxurious resort you could find in Dubai. It dries down and tones that fruit back to really bring out the staying power of tea, melon, cinnamon, and vanilla. Yea, this is definitely “soapy”, just like Imagination. So if you don’t like soapy scents, this isn’t for you. But I love it, and it is soapy done to perfection. You will continue to smell like a luxurious man by that infinity pool that has everything in his life in control, his money working for him, and that is absolutely ripping a $10k blackjack table later that night with the boys. Like I said, projection is easily 3-4 hours, with this fragrance lasting for an EASY 9-10 hours, 36+ on clothes. All that is encapsulated in a gorgeous, heavy metal and glass bottle with a tropical hue in the back, and the most pressurized-pressurized atomizer I’ve ever seen. If you were to ever only buy a single “dupe” or “cheapie”, this is it. Nothing beats this as of right now for the value. Beware of fakes, though. Buy on Amazon from Al Haramain only.

I've tried LV Imagination and these dupes: • Al Haramain Amber Oud Aqua Dubai - Close after maceration. Requires a bit of patience at first. • Alexandria Fragrances Visionary - Closest after maceration, but still close enough brand new. Longevity improves substantially after maceration. • Jo Milano Game of Spades Full House - Close even out of a fresh bottle but brighter and more fun. Longevity will not be good until it macerates. Aqua Dubai is really good, but not at first. You absolutely need to let this one sit and macerate/oxidize for at least a few weeks, ideally a month or so or longer. Initial spray (pre-maceration) smelled like straight bug spray, it was overwhelming and borderline nauseating and it lingered in the air all day. It almost made me return it. I read up on it and listened to the advice, it just needed to sit and mature a bit. Even after a few days to a week I could already tell a massive difference. After a month it's much much better. It's really close to LV Imagination and it's very potent. This one is up there but it just requires a bit of initial patience because you'll be concerned if you're going off of the initial few days/weeks. Let it sit in a drawer with the cap removed after about 10 or so sprays then come back in a month. Thank me later. That being said, if you're looking for the easiest reach I would still choose Full House over this since it's a better value and much easier to wear regardless of scent maturity. The best overall in my opinion is still Alexandria Fragrances Visionary. It is not the best value compared to Full House but it's probably the closest for the money to the original LV Imagination, even more so after macerating, and way closer than Aqua Dubai.

I've tried Aqua Dubai, Hawas Kobra, Marwa, and Essence de Blanc and this ended up being my favorite version of this DNA. There's 2 ends to the spectrum blanc and aqua Dubai. Blanc is extremely spicy and green while aqua Dubai is clean and sweetest of all. Kobra is spice forward but doesn't get super clean and can sorta get a little dirty in the dry down. Marwa is the most clean but not nearly as sweet as aqua Dubai and also lacking a lot of the spice. The reason I prefer aqua Dubai is it just smells the cleanest to me without feeling as delicate as Marwa and performing vastly better. Essence de blanc was spicy to the point it almost felt peppered which detracted from the overall enjoyment. So it came to Aqua Dubai vs Kobra and while I thought I preferred the spice to be heavier what I realized was Kobra and Aqua Dubai still smelled very similar side by side despite aqua Dubai feeling like it has very little tea or spice and while kobra has an amazing spicy opening the dry down deteriorated a lot over time into something less attractive while aqua Dubai was stupidly easy to wear the entire time. The sweetness is slightly jarring when you first try this out if this isn't your first experience with the DNA and is a little distracting but it's actually still got a lot of that overall feel so as long as sweetness isn't a complete deal breaker this feels the best overall fragrance of those 4 but not necessarily the closest to the inspiration. I believe it's better to judge inspirations for what they are rather than how close they are to the original and this is a great example of that.

I am about to be on my third bottle so I can say this much :D . Basically this smells like soft citrus for around 10 minutes but then it becomes more floral and soapy. It is unisex. It is very linear past the opening and just basically smells like some white dove soap. Performance is actually insane for about an hour or two and lasts about 7ish hours total. Bottle and atomizer are epic as well :D. It is just damn good honestly for everyday use for $40. Below will be more specific details or questions answered but yea basically this is good is the gist ;) Maceration?: Yes, this will have to macerate, my second bottle smelled off compared to my used one at first. Floor cleaner/Bug spray?: If you don't like citrus you will hate the opening, to me it was never pungent but it does fade in the dry down. Remember, citrus in the air is much lighter than up close so it really should be fine in the air. Performance issues?: People mention performance problems. Its an extrait de parfum, it will need a good amount of heat to activate the oil. Don't spray on clothes as it will not really project from it as it needs heat. Peers thoughts?: Everyone seems to like this scent in the air. I mean its just a clean smell. How can you not like clean? Women like it as its also unisex so it smells less like what other guys wear by default. Oud note?: No, there is no oud in this. The bottle line up is called Amber Oud but they dont just put oud in this. Number of sprays?: 5 is the right amount. 3 on neck and 1 on each side of the forearm. It is strong so don't overspray.

I have zero doubts that the vast majority of people who are critical of this fragrance are those who blew almost four hundred bills on Imagination and can’t abide having done so if there’s another frag out there that achieves basically the same scent for 1/5th of the price. I sprayed a bunch of Aqua Dubai on my forearm before going to the LV boutique to exchange another frag for Imagination. I told myself that if Imagination was considerably better, I’d make the exchange and get Imagination. If it wasn’t, I’d simply return the frag I had bought for a refund. And after smelling them back and forth on either forearm for almost ten minutes in the boutique, I decided that Imagination was NOT considerably better, and I couldn’t justify walking out with a bottle of it. It would maybe be one thing if AD had piss poor performance, but it doesn’t, it has great performance on me. And if you’re wondering why I was considering Imagination if I was already quite pleased with AD, it’s because I often buy good dupes of expensive frags that I own and use them up so that I don’t have to use the OG. I do the same with Armaf Milestone for Millésime Impérial, Armaf Sillage for Silver Mountain water, Mugler Cologne for Original Vetiver, and several others. In this case I did the reverse, I had the dupe first. In summary, if money isn’t at all a concern for you, by all means buy Imagination. But if you want something affordable that gets you very, very nearly there, buy Aqua Dubai. It’s a terrific fragrance with excellent performance.